3D printed subs ?

[Sonnich]

Anyone 3d print their submarine ?
There seems to be a lot of 3d models of submarines out there, that can be modified for RC use. Seems like an "easy" way to get a nice scale submarine outline.
This LA class Flight I , is printed in ABS. PLA plastic would be just as good I imagine ?
How thick a hull would be best in plastic ? 4mm ?
I was thinking of making a PVC sewer pipe WTC for it.

[SubtechRC]

I've found that a printed wall thickness of about. .080" works well. Set your infill at 15%. It does not need to be a solid wall profile. PLA (polylactic acid) does not do well immersed. It softens and degrades. Use ABS for best hull results. PLA can be used as internal ballast system components in the dry space with no trouble.

There are many free 3D models of subs out there. You typically get what you pay for. Most of them are terribly inaccurate and the CAD work is strictly bush league. Also, most files are STEP or STL files which are a royal pain to manipulate. Look for files that provide you with the iges file for surfaces. NURBs surfaces are best generated with Rhino 5 3D or Solidworks.

[Sonnich]

THanks, Ill try that :-)

[bob the builder]

It's more work than you think. I've done a few models now using 3D printing for masters. You'll need to do a lot of post-production cleanup, filling, sanding, etc. If you're after quick and dirty, this will work well. If you're hoping for polished parts you glue together and go with... it's not happening (yet!).

Bob

[aeroengineer1]

Haha, I had to laugh at the thought of SolidWorks being considered as a good surface modeler. It can do OK surfaces, especially for the RC sub community as they usually are not that complex, but it ranks low on ability to generate accurate surfaces, and it has few tools to tell you how good or bad they are. Do not get me wrong, I love SolidWorks, and I have used it for years, and know many of its workarounds. I have not played with Rhino, but I hear really good things about it. Best surface modeler I have used (5 total CAD packages so far) is CATIA. Though with CATIA, you have to promise your first born, your house, and have the financial backing of a small country to afford it

[SubtechRC]

Its good to see you posting again, Adam! I hope all is well with you and your family.

[Sonnich]

Thanks for the tips. I have to start somewhere :-) Im not looking at building scale winning competition subs, just something that will work :-)
I have had a robbe Seawolf long time ago, that I had to sell. it was a fun little dynamic diver boat. I also have an unfinished Robbe U-47. Would like to make it a static diver.....but im a bit stuck on that one at the moment. I bought a 3d printer last year....and that is almost a hobby by itself. 3 months ago I boght a larger printer, and that can print larger stuff.....like sub parts, and rc plane stuff :-)
Yesterday I received a arkmodel red shark. its in the build section. Going to try it out today hopefully :-)

Here is some of the stuff I have printed out. I would say it is fine enough to print detaild stuff on a sub.

[Sonnich]

few more.....

[scottyk]

Where do you find the free files for the RC subs at? Worth a look!

[Sonnich]

Here is a few :-)

lots more out there.
Some need some work with the STL`s to make them work.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:405446

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:576033

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:11620

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2180526

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:887573

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:45849

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2138989

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2172710

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1829232

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1828448

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:120375

[Guest]

No real world experience with 3D printers, just observed some results. The domestic models seem to have come on in recent times, although still seem to be some way from the results achievable with professional machines used by the bureaus.

Ideally you ought to aim for minimum thickness on any items above the waterline, as high volume equates to big tanks if the boat incorporates a ballast system. I've also heard that PLA is a swine to sand, so not sure how easy it would be to get a good finish. ABS can be tricky to print I believe, but would probably be a better choice for hand finishing, and should stand up to the elements.

Personally I think at this point in time 3D printing is a good tool for making details, and possibly masters to cast off for larger components. There some manufacturers out there which are using composites for additive manufacturing, e.g. Markforged but still early days, and it isn't cheap.

When that gains some traction, we could see some interesting products.

[aeroengineer1]

Thanks Matt,

Things are going well. Life has been busy for sure, but I am starting to work more on mechanical things now. I am still heavily involved with electronics (I have this hobby to thank for that), so it will be a bit before I really dig back in. You going to be in Indy here Saturday? It is about an hour and a half for me, but I have to stop by the Dayton Mini Maker Faire before I head out.

Its good to see you posting again, Adam! I hope all is well with you and your family.

[aeroengineer1]

I have just started to get into 3D printing. I have been playing mostly with PLA, but you can use Polystyrene as well, though it is mostly considered as a support material. ABS for chlorinated water is probably the best for the application, but it can be challenging to print. I have yet to play with it, but my little 3D printer will soon be upgraded with a heated bed to better use ABS materials. As for sanding PLA, I have found it a nice material to work with. It has a more crystalline structure which allows for nice filing. The bigger concern is its low heat deflection temperature. There are some PLA blends that raise this temperature, but it is really something to watch. Also PLA is worse in chlorinated water than Polystyrene. That being said, I have a batch that I printed that I have exposed to an extreme dose of chlorine, and it has been immersed for about a month now and it has not gotten particularly brittle, but it is leaching out all the color.

I also am making it so that I can mount a 405nm laser on this printer so that I can etch plastic as well as use it to expose photosensitive UV resist for photo etch brass. This will eventually be built into a ~2m long rig that will have a print bed that can accommodate a build volume of about 10" x 10" x 12", and have a 4 axis laser engraver.

The goal will be to be able to print a boat in sections, then do the handworking of the surfaces. After that, then mount it in the 4th axis and engrave the hull details. This could be used to make masters, skipping the intermediate steps, and thus the cost associated with it, and be able to go straight to having a fully detailed mold master ready for creating a set of tooling. The other way it could be used is to just build a one off and go from there.

Adam

No real world experience with 3D printers, just observed some results. The domestic models seem to have come on in recent times, although still seem to be some way from the results achievable with professional machines used by the bureaus.

Ideally you ought to aim for minimum thickness on any items above the waterline, as high volume equates to big tanks if the boat incorporates a ballast system. I've also heard that PLA is a swine to sand, so not sure how easy it would be to get a good finish. ABS can be tricky to print I believe, but would probably be a better choice for hand finishing, and should stand up to the elements.

Personally I think at this point in time 3D printing is a good tool for making details, and possibly masters to cast off for larger components. There some manufacturers out there which are using composites for additive manufacturing, e.g. Markforged but still early days, and it isn't cheap.

When that gains some traction, we could see some interesting products.

[SubtechRC]

Adam,
That is being done in my shop now with 2 new models. Both printed in PLA. 1/48th Russian WWII Pike and 1/48th American S-25. My machines are all 3 axis so I will still be hand scribing in the fine details.

[Sonnich]

Just printed this one for my father...he is a huge Beatles fan :-)

A shame that the 3d model is not smoother...but some filler and sandig will take care of it.

But even this model could be scaled up, and made RC :-)